WASHINGTON, June 8, 2018 – The tragic suicides of chef Anthony Bourdain and designer Kate Spade and a new federal report that shows nearly 45,000 people died by suicide in 2016 underscore the critical need for effective mental health treatment in the United States today.

Updated statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week show that suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, and that suicide rates increased in nearly every state from 1999 through 2016. At the same time, suicide rates rose by more than 30 percent in half of the states since 1999.

“Our country has faced a difficult week filled with very sad news and grim statistics,” said Mark Covall, president and CEO of the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH). “We know that with suicide, hope lies in effective mental health and substance use disorder services—at inpatient psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment facilities, addiction treatment centers, and outpatient settings,” he added. “With the right care in the right setting, people suffering from severe depression, serious mental illness, or addiction can get the help they need.”

This is why NABH continues to advocate on Capitol Hill—and throughout the country—for wider access to behavioral healthcare for the people who need it most.

“Two ways to improve access to care include enforcing mental health parity laws and repealing laws that serve as barriers to adequate care, such as the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion,” Covall said.

For more information about these and other issues related to treating those with severe depression, severe mental illness, or substance use disorders, please contact NABH.

National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH): Access. Care. Recovery.
The National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH) advocates for behavioral healthcare and represents provider systems that are committed to delivering responsive, accountable, and clinically effective prevention, treatment, and care for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental and substance use disorders. Its members are behavioral healthcare provider organizations that own or manage more than 1,000 specialty psychiatric hospitals, general hospital psychiatric and addiction treatment units and behavioral healthcare divisions, residential treatment facilities, youth services organizations, and extensive outpatient networks. The association was founded in 1933.